This weeks preps check-in

[MaterielGeneral]

I got a fire extinguisher for my house. I added some more stuff to my BOB. Mostly small stuff like toothpaste, small sponge, dish soap, one load travel pack of Tide laundry detergent.

What did you pay for all of this minus the extinguisher? Keep in mind dollar tree has all of this stuff and some of it is name brand.

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[DrPrepper1]

What did you pay for all of this minus the extinguisher? Keep in mind dollar tree has all of this stuff and some of it is name brand.

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.97 cents for each item at the Walmart sample bin.

 

[MaterielGeneral]

.97 cents for each item at the Walmart sample bin.

Cant argue with that.

 

[Dani]

The lady truck driver had a dolly and lift ramp for the back of her truck so easy transfer of the generator to our truck. Only had to meet her a couple miles down the road. Once home off loaded with skid steer and now waiting for propane tank to get delivered and installed for connection. Getting so close now.

I ended up with 12 pints sliced zucchini, 2 pints yellow squash, & 2 pints patty squash all done in one canner load. 16 pints pumpkin cubes and 14 pints cream corn. The last batch of corn picked was a disappointment, seemed like most of them were on the smaller side. We had gone over to a friends house the 4th of July and she was having the same problem. The ones planted in March did much better than the ones planted in April. Timing is everything. . . but I did get enough corncob s to make jelly, soak a few in vinegar for the garden and still have some leftover for the pigs. Normally 100 corncobs will do around 12 quarts of kerneled corn, creamed you can almost double the amount of cobs, but when only 5 inches long. . . let's just say it was a lot of scrapping, but oh so worth it!! I saved my corncob jelly to make this morning. I was running out of steam yesterday.

Looks like the garden is about to be just beans & peppers & melons. Everything else is wanting to wilt in the heat we have been having. Heat index today will only be 102 instead of the 110 we've been having. Just glad I got every thing picked this morning already. When it cools back off this evening, I'll go back out and continue pulling squash plants & whatever else to throw to the goats and building my rows back up. I have also decided the next time I plant a new row of beans, they will need to go on a trellis, my back is getting to old to be hunching down beds to pick all morning. I guess I should have takin better care of it when I was younger. . . normally my attitude is suck it up and go on, now I am paying the price. I just don't get to plant as many beans on a trellis vs a bed, which is probably why I haven't done it yet. Who knows, I may change my mind. . . I am female after all .

Last night ended up having to fix a fence. My goat Penelope kept jumping it. She is one of my older goats that I've had for the last 9 years. She has never been a fence jumper, n fact none of them have been, but we had been having a lot of rain which made the ground wet and she discovered that she could stand on the wire fence to sink the t post to jump over. Now that the ground is dried out, new t post have been driven in to stand the fence up higher. She was the only one. . . I really think she wanted to get away from her twins for a little while. She stayed by the fencing munching away on the canal and when I walked out, she was would always jump back over. No harm done, but you just never know when the LNVA will get mowed by the county or another animal goes down it. I would hate for her to get scared off.

 

[jimLE]

i canned 5 pints of taco meat the other day..ow im trying my hand at bread n butter pickles..

 

[jimLE]

i just added the cucumbers and onion to the other ingredients,after bringing them to a boil.. arent the cucumber and onion suppose to be completely covered in the other ingredients?

 

[Mountain trapper]

Just got confirmation from the manufacturer that my new generator will be assymbled next week. The solar electric gear is still a couple of weeks out. Just have a few finishing touches left on the chicken coop and I'll bring the chicks home on Sunday. A couple days ago I was putting on the last piece of window trim and drilled a hole through my thumb. Don't ask.
Brought home some weaner pigs yesterday.

 

[Dani]

i just added the cucumbers and onion to the other ingredients,after bringing them to a boil.. arent the cucumber and onion suppose to be completely covered in the other ingredients?

When ladling into jars, yes leaving a 1/4 headspace. It really depends on the recipe you are using. . . some call for adding the cucumber onion mixture directly to the jar then adding in the liquid. Other recipes call for adding the cuke onion mixture into the liquid first. Most of these will also have an excess of liquid, which I normally save for the next batch or pickle eggs with it. I have yet to find a recipe that does not call for making an excess of liquid.

 

[WGregMiller]

We're prepping to can tomatoes. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 pounds. Tomorrow is gonna be a long day.

 

[Brent S]

We're prepping to can tomatoes. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 pounds. Tomorrow is gonna be a long day.

Wow, 80 lbs is great! I'm getting fresh ripe tomatoes to eat, but will be lucky to get more than a dozen or so pints for canning. I only planted 7 plants this year. Looks like I'll buy a couple trays of canned sauce and paste from the store this year.

 

[Dani]

Wow, 80 lbs is great! I'm getting fresh ripe tomatoes to eat, but will be lucky to get more than a dozen or so pints for canning. I only planted 7 plants this year. Looks like I'll buy a couple trays of canned sauce and paste from the store this year.

Even with all the tomatoes I canned this year, we still bought a flat of tomato paste from the store yesterday. Did notice the price has gone up. Used to be 30 cents a can, now 39 cents. I can make tomato paste but normally it is just more economical to buy the ones at the store and it is so versatile so nice to have on hand.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Got the chickens in to their new home today. I think there's room for about 25 more. Just need to put the wire up on their run and build a gate. Once they get a little bigger we'll let them out during the day to eat some bugs.

 

[DrPrepper1]

We cleaned out the garage. Took stuff to Goodwill, and threw a bunch of stuff in the trash. We almost have room for 2 cars in the garage now. It was helpful to know what we actually have and what we actually use.
The great clean out of 2017 basically took all day. I also cleaned out the freezer , for the same reason, to know what I actually have and what I can use. Did the same for the pantry earlier this week. My goal is to go through the entire house and see what stuff I can get rid of and create maximum space.

 

[Brent S]

We cleaned out the garage. Took stuff to Goodwill, and threw a bunch of stuff in the trash. We almost have room for 2 cars in the garage now. It was helpful to know what we actually have and what we actually use.
The great clean out of 2017 basically took all day. I also cleaned out the freezer , for the same reason, to know what I actually have and what I can use. Did the same for the pantry earlier this week. My goal is to go through the entire house and see what stuff I can and create maximum space.

It's always good to get organized.

 

[Brent S]

I was at Wally World today and happened to go by sporting goods . A lady was loading about twenty bricks of 22lr into the case. I was tempted to ask for them all, but decided 50 bucks for two 500 round boxes was enough. I really didn't need 22's but hadn't seen them in so long I couldn't resist.

 

[Brent S]

Even with all the tomatoes I canned this year, we still bought a flat of tomato paste from the store yesterday. Did notice the price has gone up. Used to be 30 cents a can, now 39 cents. I can make tomato paste but normally it is just more economical to buy the ones at the store and it is so versatile so nice to have on hand.

There's no doubt buying it is much more economical, but just isn't as good or satisfying. Hopefully in my lifetime I will always have the option to go out and buy whatever is running low in the pantry. In years past lots of people just did without if the garden didn't do well.

 

[Brent S]

Even with all the tomatoes I canned this year, we still bought a flat of tomato paste from the store yesterday. Did notice the price has gone up. Used to be 30 cents a can, now 39 cents. I can make tomato paste but normally it is just more economical to buy the ones at the store and it is so versatile so nice to have on hand.

I have been noticing food prices have gone up a lot recently.

 

[WGregMiller]

We have the last batch of tomatoes in the canner. I think we wound up with about 10 quarts of tomatoes and 10 more of pasta sauce.

I'm tired of green beans and tomatoes now.

Also managed to mow the blessed yard. With all the rain we've had it was more like bushhogging. No rain today, and it was deep and thick enough to still be wet at 3:30....

 

[WGregMiller]

My wife is also dying to get the freeze dryer. I hear more tomatoes in my near future. I can also hear an emergency beer drinking somewhere that day.

 

[Mountain trapper]

I was at Wally World today and happened to go by sporting goods . A lady was loading about twenty bricks of 22lr into the case. I was tempted to ask for them all, but decided 50 bucks for two 500 round boxes was enough. I really didn't need 22's but hadn't seen them in so long I couldn't resist.

Our local grocery store has a good selection of .22 ammo on hand all the time now. Decent prices too.

 

[Brent S]

There's nothing wrong with a glass of wine or beer while your cutting up and processing your Garden! Some of the monotonous work is better when your more relaxed.....

 

[WGregMiller]

There's nothing wrong with a glass of wine or beer while your cutting up and processing your Garden! Some of the monotonous work is better when your more relaxed.....

Yeah. True. But I meant somewhere else.....

Out of reach!

Meanwhile, a friend of ours has a ton of bell and jalapeño peppers if we go pick them. I like both. Thinking about pickling several pints of jalapeños. IF I can work up the energy to go pick them.

 

[Proud Prepper]

Yeah. True. But I meant somewhere else.....

Out of reach!

Meanwhile, a friend of ours has a ton of bell and jalapeño peppers if we go pick them. I like both. Thinking about pickling several pints of jalapeños. IF I can work up the energy to go pick them.

They make a great jelly also. Let me know if you want a pepper jelly recipe.

 

[WGregMiller]

They make a great jelly also. Let me know if you want a pepper jelly recipe.

Sure! Love to have it.

 

[jontte]

pepper jelly? never heard of it,but it sounds so good,so one recipe here too, pretty please

 

[Proud Prepper]

Here it is, I also posted it in food preperation.

6oz fruit pectin (I like the certo liquid)
1/2 cup of jalapeno peppers (chopped very fine)
1 1/3 cup of bell peppers (chopped)
6 1/2 cups of cane suger
1 1/2 cups red wine vinegar
Red or green food coloring

Seed and grind peppers real fine (leave in some seeds to suite preffrence in heat)
Mix peppers with sugar and vivegar in large deep pot.
Bring to boil for 1 minute, lower fire and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. (1-2 minutes more if food processor was used for chopping.
Remove from hot stove and add the certo liquid pectin and food coloring. Stir and pour into jars and seal. I jar them and seal while there hot and they seal themselves.
Makes about 8, 8oz jars, leave an 1/2 inch gap at top.
To make hotter, just substitute more bell pepper with jalapeno peppers.
Simply double, triple or quadruple recipe for larger batches

 

[Proud Prepper]

pepper jelly? never heard of it,but it sounds so good,so one recipe here too, pretty please

Its great on cheese and crackers, or in a salad with a balsamic vinegar. Spread it on your baked pork roast or duck. My uncle even eats in on hic peanut butter sandwich.

 

[jontte]

thanks
have to do a batch.

 

[Dani]

Strawberry jalapeño is also good if you run across some at a decent price. One of my all time favorites is Candied Jalapeños. I put that in my tater salad, on salads, bake potatoes, etc. Very yummy.

 

[jimLE]

i now have 2 cases of pint jars of chicken soup,5 pints of taco meat,and 3 quarts and 1 pint of bread n butter pickles..this is my first go with bread n butter pickles.so it's a matter of the waiting game,just to see how they turn out..im finally getting stocked up on extra toilet paper.